Kodak HIE in Tokyo

uccemebug · Jun 24, 2009

A note for those who live in Tokyo. I took my (last?) roll of Kodak HIE in to Horiuchi in Roppongi for development and they turned me down. National in Harajuku will still develop the stuff. I realize that it's not been on the shelves for some time now but thought the news worth repeating.

(I don't know if this is the right place to post this note?)

Andy K · Jun 24, 2009

Strange. HIE is developed in normal black and white chemistry. Are these people also turning away other black and white film? Did they give a reason for not taking it?

aluk · Jun 24, 2009

Probably they do not want to be responsible for whatever IR-emitting equipment they use fogging the film, though of course it still isn't that hard to work around that.

phaedrus · Jun 24, 2009

Another reason to develop your own. It's not that hard to get into the habit.

uccemebug · Jun 24, 2009

Andy K said:
Strange. HIE is developed in normal black and white chemistry. Are these people also turning away other black and white film? Did they give a reason for not taking it?

I'm surprised to learn that it's developed normally, they certainly charge and arm and a leg for the service here in Tokyo. No reason given. Sad to say, but my Japanese isn't strong enough to have understood an explanation beyond anything basic.

HIE is no longer available for purchase here, though I've seen some Rollei black and white infra-red for sale.

Andy K · Jun 24, 2009

Kodak discontinued HIE. Sadly it is no longer available anywhere. There are other IR films, though none have the gorgeous halation that HIE had.

Toffle · Jun 24, 2009

Andy K said:
Kodak discontinued HIE. Sadly it is no longer available anywhere. There are other IR films, though none have the gorgeous halation that HIE had.

Agreed, though I've kind of grown to like Maco 820. (I haven't seen Aura for quite some time now)

HIE is no sweat to develop yourself. It can be a little tricky to load on the reels because it has such a thin base, but once it's in the tank it's a snap.

Cheers,

Sirius Glass · Jun 24, 2009

I suggest that you buy a steel tank, steel reels,a good fine grain developer like XTOL, stop bath, and hypo. Remove the film from the camera in a changing bag [which you already did] and load the film into the tank in the changing bag [not news, you already knew that] and process the film yourself. It will be faster, cheaper and less frustrating the finding a photofinisher who knows what to do and is willing to process the film.

I hope this helps you.

Steve

Ray Rogers · Jun 24, 2009

Sirius Glass said:
I suggest that you buy a steel tank, steel reels....
Steve

Does anyone know for sure that patterson plastic tanks/reels are not IR safe?

Sirius Glass · Jun 24, 2009

Ray Rogers said:
Does anyone know for sure that patterson plastic tanks/reels are not IR safe?

Why take a chance? This is his last roll and he cannot do a redo. Steel tanks are cheap.

Steve

Andy K · Jun 24, 2009

Ray Rogers said:
Does anyone know for sure that patterson plastic tanks/reels are not IR safe?

I used paterson tanks to develop HIE with no problems whatsoever.

uccemebug · Jun 24, 2009

Andy K said:
I used paterson tanks to develop HIE with no problems whatsoever.

I've actually left the roll with another lab (the last one I knew of that might do the job) and should get it back this morning.

I've never developed my own film, but see the materials for sale with surprising frequency. As I mostly shoot Ilford HP5/FP4 I wouldn't mind learning the technique. Can anyone recommend a good intro book on the subject?

Anon Ymous · Jun 24, 2009

A book might not be a bad idea, but you don't need one. I learned the process by reading this pdf by Ilford. Of course, it's not the only one and a google search will give you lots of results. You can even find relevant videos at youtube. In fact, Jason Brunner (a moderator here) has a series of video clips there.

Sirius Glass · Jun 24, 2009

uccemebug said:
I've actually left the roll with another lab (the last one I knew of that might do the job) and should get it back this morning.

I've never developed my own film, but see the materials for sale with surprising frequency. As I mostly shoot Ilford HP5/FP4 I wouldn't mind learning the technique. Can anyone recommend a good intro book on the subject?

It is as easy as falling off a motorcycle.

No, actually it is not as hard as it looks, but practice loading developed film on to the reel. That is where most people get hung up at first.

Enjoy

Steve

Andrew O'Neill · Jun 24, 2009

I lived in Japan for years (Fukuoka-Ken), and even in '91 I had hassles as far as having them process HIE for me...Do it yourself. It's easy.

Ray Rogers · Jun 24, 2009

Sirius Glass said:
Why take a chance? This is his last roll and he cannot do a redo. Steel tanks are cheap.

Steve

Steve-
My question
[Does anyone know for sure that patterson plastic tanks/reels are not IR safe?] was not in ref. to the OP;
I was asking for myself....
I thought it was a good oportunity to check out other people's experience with patterson tanks... sorry for any confusion.

FredW · Jun 24, 2009

I have done HIE in Patterson tanks (system 4) and they came out fine. no fogging at all.

Aurum · Jun 24, 2009

Sirius Glass said:
It is as easy as falling off a motorcycle.

No, actually it is not as hard as it looks, but practice loading developed film on to the reel. That is where most people get hung up at first.

Enjoy

Steve

I'd recommend getting hold of the cheapest nastiest bargain bucket 35mm you can lay your hands on, and sacrificing it to the cause by practicing in daylight. You can then be confident that once you're in the darkroom (Or using a changing bag- tip here get a big one with plenty of room, it makes life a lot easier) that you will be able to do it easily.

I sit on the sofa watching TV, whilst loading tanks in a changing bag. It really is that easy with a bit of practice.
120 is also very easy with the proviso that you don't load the paper not the film (you can feel the difference)

uccemebug · Jun 24, 2009

Thanks for the advice, everyone (and the PDF!). I'm going to look into developing my own film.

Sirius Glass · Jun 25, 2009

Sirius Glass said:
Why take a chance? This is his last roll and he cannot do a redo. Steel tanks are cheap.

Steve

I have not processed IR film in a plastic tank, so I have no opinion on that. I know that my steel tanks are light tight and IR should not be a problem.

Steve

Kodak HIE in Tokyo

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